2004 Madrid train bombings



Remains of one of the trains, near Atocha station

Deaths: 191
Injured: 2,050
Perpetrators: Al-Qaeda in Iraq
Motive: Opposition to Spanish participation in the Iraq and Afghanistan War

The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11M) were nearly simultaneous, coordinated bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004 – three days before Spain's general elections. The explosions killed 191 people and injured around 2,000. The bombings constituted the deadliest terrorist attack carried out in the history of Spain and the deadliest in Europe since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The official investigation by the Spanish judiciary found that the attacks were directed by an al-Qaeda terrorist cell, although no direct al-Qaeda participation has been established. Although they had no role in the planning or implementation, the Spanish miners who sold the explosives to the terrorists were also arrested.

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